by Elissa | Dec 4, 2020 | B.A.G. Meetings, bookbinding, Exhibitions, MailB.A.G., Member News, Workshops
Next Meeting: Wednesday, December 9, 2020, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
This month’s meeting will once again be held via Zoom, an online conference program. If you’ve never attended a Zoom meeting before, check out this video – it will go over the basics of how to join a meeting.
Stay safe!
The B.A.G. Board
Program: Luminaries
Our December zoom meeting will feature 3 different hands-on luminaries. We all need more light so let’s celebrate together! Gather your supplies and we will light the way. If you have luminaries to share we may have time for some show and tell.
Note: For one of the luminaries, you will need to print out this template on an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of lightweight paper in advance of the meeting.
Supplies and Materials:
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Glue stick
- X-acto knife
- Cutting mat if available
- 10 or more pieces of 8.5 x 11” text weight paper
- Larger square paper if available
- Scraps of tissue paper (optional)
- LED tea lights for illumination (can be purchased later)
If you plan to attend the meeting, please contact Elissa so she can send you the Zoom meeting details.
November Meeting Reflections
As the days slide into each other and every day seems the same, I look forward to the BAG zoom meetings as an event not to be missed!
The Card Trick and Book Blitz meeting did not disappoint. Ann Joppe-Mercure acted as the hostess, and called upon volunteers to show their simple, complicated, or just plain fun ideas for winter cheer. Pop-ups, dimensional tricks, and sweet sentiments were shared and appreciated!
Thank you all for bringing your ideas and creativity to our virtual world, and thanks to Ann for being the hostess with the mostess.
Click here to access a list of resources from the meeting.
B.A.G. News
*** Winter Mail Art Reminder
Seventeen B.A.G. members signed up for our Winter Mail Art Challenge.
This is just a reminder to mail your two pieces of mail art by December 20th and save them for sharing at our January 2021 meeting.
*** Support the Book Arts Guild of Vermont by becoming a member!
Big News!
Our 2021 dues have been reduced from $35.00 to $25.00 for one year’s membership since we are saving on meeting rental space.
The Book Arts Guild of Vermont is supported by its members and you have kept us going for fifteen years. Our organization is solely run by volunteers and we do what we do because we love the book arts and we love B.A.G.. We continue to be inspired by our community, and the enthusiasm and talents that you bring to our meetings.
Membership dues are our main source of income and we hope that you will show that you value what we have to offer – quality programming, future exhibits, and more – by becoming a member. You get so much value out of your $25.00 and attending just one meeting can give you your full money’s worth.
Just to give you an idea of where membership dues go, here’s a breakdown of B.A.G.’s annual expenses:
- Zoom subscription: $149.90 per year
- Rent: $50.00 per month when we can return to in-person attendance
- Presenter honorarium: $35.00 per meeting
- Website and email newsletter: $100.00 per year
- Presenter reimbursement for supplies: Varies
We hope that you will renew your membership to help us with our annual expenses. You can download our membership form and send it in with your payment by check of $25.00 made out to the Book Arts Guild of Vermont:
Book Arts Guild of Vermont
c/o Ann Joppe-Mercure
10 Brookwood Dr
South Burlington, VT 05403
Thank you so much for your continued support of the guild. We wouldn’t be here without you.
Book Arts News
*** The San Francisco Center for the Book‘s Shelter in Studio series is featuring Julie Chen on December 10th. The focus of the series is to chat with folks (SFCB Staff, instructors, and community members) about projects and processes that keep hands and minds engaged.
For more information, please visit the SFCB website.
You can view past studio tours on the SFCB Vimeo page.
*** The New England Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers 40th Anniversary Exhibition is now available for viewing online.
Members from across the nation created a range of bindings from traditional fine bindings to creative design bindings. There are innovative artist books and sculptural pieces. The exhibit showcases the brilliant and creative community that makes up the New England Chapter.
The exhibit website features interviews with members who have served as Chairs for the New England Chapter. Each interview has been organized by a current board member to pair each Chapter Chair with another Guild member in order to create an interesting snapshot of the Chapter during the years they served in addition to speaking about their current work in the field.
*** The Bainbridge Island Museum of Art is hosting the All Sorts (No Licorice!) artist’s books exhibit at the Sherry Grover Gallery from now until December 31st.
This new rotation from the Collection of Cynthia Sears serves up an astonishing assortment of artist’s books. Included is All Sorts, a new work by Emily Martin in collaboration with Ellen Knudson. The work was conceived during Martin’s artist’s residency – inspired by the University of Florida’s collection of citrus labels.
Click here to get a video tour of the exhibit.
*** An online exhibit of bindings inspired by Quilted: From Pattern to Patchwork is now available for viewing. The book is the sixth volume in Janine Vangool‘s Encyclopedia of Inspiration series.
Ms. Vangool shared unbound copies of the book which were given to different binders who were tasked with creating unique covers based on the contents. The result is a variety of bindings using various covering materials, bookbinding structures and ornamentation techniques.
B.A.G.’s own Judy Sgantas was among those chosen to participate in the project. You can see her wonderful binding here.
Click here to check out all of the bindings.
Stay-at-Home Fun
*** The Center for Book Arts is offering Embroidery On and Off the Page with Iviva Olenick on December 16th.
In this two-hour workshop, the instructor will teach students beginner and intermediate embroidery stitches that can be done on fabric or paper. We will also discuss strategies for stitching on paper versus fabric.
Finally, we will explore the creative embroidery applications for book arts: stitching to create text and images, or piercing or poking holes to make an image or text without using thread. The instructor will also offer advice for transferring drawings and/or text onto fabric or paper from a digital or printed source.
For more information or to register, please visit the CBA website.
*** The San Francisco Center for the Book is offering Finishing Tool Making with Brien Beidler on January 9, 16 & 23, 2021.
Students in this workshop will learn the basics of making finishing tools. Beginning with brass stock (supplied in the class kit), students will cut, drill, and file seemingly basic designs that can then be used to create a surprising range of patterns. They will learn to durably mount their newly cut tools into wooden handles. Thermodynamic considerations and tool blank fabrication options will also be discussed.
Finishing tools are expensive and difficult to find, so being able to make one’s own is an asset to any binder. In addition to potential savings, there is the added advantage of having a unique and personal catalog of tools. We will focus on developing tool designs that can be repeated in interesting ways to build up a variety of patterns.
Be prepared for a lot of hand filing of metal!
For more information or to register, visit the SFCB website.
*** The Minnesota Center for Book Arts is offering Non-Linear Artist’s Books with Yuka Petz on January 5, 12, 19, & 26, February 2, & 9, 2021.
Explore artist’s books that defy conventional front-to-back reading. In this weekly virtual workshop, make six non-linear artist’s books, including one-sheet books, flexagons, dos-à-dos, French door, flag books, and volvelles.
Each week, learn a new book structure and techniques for adding content that works in tandem with the non-traditional bookform to create meaning. Examples of artists’ books that use these structures will be discussed. The group will also engage in brief idea generation exercises and friendly critique. Participants will have the option to exchange books with one another to begin or grow a personal collection of artists’ books.
For more information or to register, visit the MCBA website.
*** On January 20, 2021, the MCBA is also offering Book Biz with Karen Hanmer.
Artist and fine binder Karen Hanmer will share an overview of her career and varied practice through the lens of running a business. Topics covered will include: networking; planning editioned work; pricing, exhibiting, and promoting that work; professional development; and the value of community.
For more information or to register, visit the MCBA website.
by Elissa | Nov 5, 2020 | B.A.G. Meetings, bookbinding, Exhibitions, MailB.A.G., Member News, Workshops
Next Meeting: Wednesday, November 11, 2020, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
This month’s meeting will once again be held via Zoom, an online conference program. If you’ve never attended a Zoom meeting before, check out this video – it will go over the basics of how to join a meeting.
Stay safe!
The B.A.G. Board
Program: Book Blitz and Card Tricks
Join us for our always-popular annual November tradition: Member-led mini demonstrations in the form of a card or mini-book that we call Book Blitz and Card Tricks. Unfortunately, we’ll have our celebration of ideas without the hands-on making.
Your task – design a card or small/simple book structure that has a trick or two; maybe a pop-up, French doors or a window.
Here’s where we need YOU.
We are seeking volunteers to share a card or paper manipulation during our Zoom meeting. You will simply hold up your creation for us to see and demonstrate how you made your paper item. We can post follow up references on Chat if desired.
Please contact Ann if you are interested in sharing. The more members participate the richer our meeting will be.
If you plan to attend the meeting, please contact Elissa so she can send you the Zoom meeting details.
October Meeting Reflections
We’re getting good at Zooming!
The visit to UVM Silver Special Collections is one of my favorite meetings, and although we visited virtually, it was still a special treat. Special Collections Librarian Prudence Doherty gave us a peek into new acquisitions and books in the time of COVID-19, political upheaval, Black Lives Matter, and women’s experiences.
She pointed out how text and illustrations can be incorporated to make meaningful statements, and how structure can relate to the content and heighten the experience of viewing the book.
I want to hold all those books and cozy up with them, but unfortunately UVM has limited visitors to only staff and students for the time being. Until we can be together again, we will have to enjoy them remotely.
B.A.G. News
*** Winter Mail Art Challenge!
Our Summer Mail Art Challenge was such a success we are having an encore performance.
To participate:
- Join the challenge by emailing Ann by Wednesday November 18th.
- You will receive two participants’ names and address by November 23rd.
- Create two pieces of Mail Art and send them on their way by December 20th.
Note: Mail Art can be any sort of original envelope and/or card for creative connection….
We hope you’ll get in on the fun!
*** Elissa Campbell is teaching Find Closure at Studio Place Arts in Barre, VT on November 14 (section 1) & 21 (section 2). This is a “small batch” class that limits enrollment to 3 or 4 students, providing appropriate social distancing for health safety.
Need that finishing touch for your journal? I’ve got you covered! Consider this class the equivalent of a Closure Dressy Bessy.
In each section of this class you’ll complete one soft cover, leather book with a different variation of the long stitch binding. Then comes the fun part – you’ll experiment with a variety of ways to secure those books (up to five closures per book, as time allows).
This class offers flexible learning – take one section or the other, or both! Each section offers a different binding and five different closures. In section one, you’ll explore ways to use sticks, leather, buttons, and cord. In section two, you’ll work with buttons, leather straps, magnets, and other metal hardware.
Bring your own embellishments (buttons, ribbons, etc.) that you’d like to use for closures – there will be time for discussion and problem-solving as a group.
Register online or contact Studio Place Arts at (802) 479-7069.
Book Arts News
*** On November 11th, the John J. Burns Library welcomes you to a special virtual tour of their exhibit Devoted Catholic & Determined Writer: Louise Imogen Guiney in Boston. The tour will be led by Burns Library conservator and exhibit curator Barbara Adams Hebard and Burns Librarian Christian Dupont.
Louise Imogen Guiney (1861-1920), one of only two women represented in stained-glass portraits of American authors in Bapst Library at Boston College, may have faded from the canon, yet she continues to offer a unique window into the multifaceted literary establishment of late 19th-century Boston.
Click here to register for the tour by November 9th.
*** The American Bookbinders Museum is currently hosting the online exhibit Bound for Beauty: Highlights from the Kathleen V. Roberts Collection of Decorated Publishers Bindings.
The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century made the mass-production of books possible. To promote sales, publishers produced beautifully decorated book covers known as decorated publishers’ bindings. Books were bound in colorful cloth and elaborately decorated with silver and gold, reflecting the tastes of the age.
Publishers’ use of color, style, and design was affected by social events including the Civil War, Japan’s opening to the west, and the employment of women as designers. Bindings in this exhibit reflect design influences from Victorian opulence to the Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco movements.
Click here to view the exhibit.
*** The American Bookbinders Museum is also hosting the online exhibit Celebrating the 19th Amendment: Suffragists in Print.
From Abigail Adams to Zitkála-Šá, suffragists put their sentiments into print, stating their point of view and making the arguments that eventually won them the vote. Formally organizing in the 1840s, suffrage was achieved state-by-state, with national ratification in 1920. This centennial exhibit of women writers, editors and publishers celebrates their decades of activism.
Click here to view the exhibit.
*** Tumultuous Absence, the 26th annual New Jersey Book Arts Symposium will be held online on November 5 – 6 and 12 – 13.
The symposium features speakers, panels, exhibits, artist in residence, and a chance to interact with other book artists. There will be live streamed and pre-recorded presentations, virtual studio tours, demonstrations, a virtual exhibit, and do-at-home workshops.
The event is free (including the workshops!), but you have to register to attend.
Click here to view the program, which includes a schedule of all events.
*** The Los Angeles Printers Fair, a celebration of printing, paper, and book arts is currently taking place virtually throughout the month of November.
The fair brings together thousands of visitors and over 60 vendors and practitioners of letterpress and the book arts. It is a unique gathering of graphic artists, hobbyists, print history enthusiasts and appreciators of great art.
The 2020 Virtual Los Angeles Printers Fair, while not in person, hopes to offer that same community feel, learning opportunities, and great shopping selections to stock up on prints, cards, letterpress supplies, and printing presses.
Visitors will be rewarded with daily special treats such as videos, tours, hands-on at home tutorials, printable keepsakes, vendor spotlights, special sales, weekly raffles, shopping guides, and more!
To discover everything they have in store, visit the fair website and sign up for daily or weekly e-mails notifying you of the new releases.
*** A documentary about the book arts is now available for streaming on PBS. The Book Makers profiles an eclectic group of people who have dedicated their lives to answering the question: what should books become in the digital age?
From the esoteric world of book artists to the digital library of the Internet Archive, the film spins a tale of the enduring vitality of the book.
Click here to watch the film.
Stay-at-Home Fun
*** The San Francisco Center for the Book is offering From Magic Wallet to Jacob’s Ladder with Bettina Pauly on November 11 & 18.
The Magic Wallet is an oddity related to a möbius strip. The Jacob’s Ladder is a toy that is also known as ‘magic tablets’, ‘Chinese blocks’ or a ‘klick-klack toy’. It normally consists of wooden blocks held together by strings or ribbon; when the ladder is held on one end, blocks appear to cascade down the strings, and when made out of wood making a ‘klick-klack’ sound.
We will be making this structure using book board instead of wood – quieter, but still fun! In the first session, students will make a Magic Wallet; in the second session they will build on that understanding to create a Jacob’s Ladder.
For more information or to register, visit the SFCB website.
*** On November 19th, the Minnesota Center for Book Arts is offering Mechanical Cards: Holiday Edition with Shawn Sheehy.
Stir a little whimsy into your holiday by creating a festive and gift-worthy set of movable, mechanical cards. Each card features a traditional movable structure that’s been adapted to accommodate the heaviness of cereal box chipboard.
You’ll build a simple wheel, a simple pull tab, and a wheel/pull tab combination. All you’ll need – aside from the cereal boxes – is scrap paper, glue, some simple tools, and your imagination!
For more information or to register, visit the MCBA website.
*** The Center for Book Arts is offering Artist Books: From Idea to Execution with Elizabeth Castaldo on Tuesdays from November 17 – December 8 (four Tuesdays).
In this workshop series, students will be introduced to the artist’s book creation process. Starting from idea and working toward execution, students will develop strategies for brainstorming and working with sequential and image-based content, bridging the gap between concept, material, process, form, and finished work of art.
Students will learn to make three book structures, accordion, pamphlet, and drum leaf binding, and then create their own one-of-a-kind artist’s book. This class is ideal for artists who want an introduction into the world of artist’s books or for those curious about artistic expression with the book form.
For more information or to register, please visit the CBA website.
